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How to Select a Medical Assistant Program near Lehighton Pennsylvania

Lehighton PA medical assistant checking pulse Once you have made a decision to join the rewarding profession of health care and enroll in a medical assistant school near Lehighton PA, it’s time to select a school that will furnish the appropriate training. But just how do you approach evaluating and comparing schools so that you ultimately pick the ideal one? Many potential students begin by evaluating the medical assistant schools that are closest to their homes and then gravitate toward those that have the cheapest tuition. While location and cost are extremely important such things as accreditation, internship programs and job assistance are important factors as well. You might want to look into a few online medical assistant programs as an option also (more about that later). The main point is that before you select a college you need to complete your due diligence and compare all pertinent aspects of the schools you are examining. And to help you with that process, we have provided several questions that you should ask all of the schools on your short list. But prior to starting that review, let’s talk a little bit about the role of a medical assistant and the type of training and credentials that are available.

The Duties of Medical Assistants

medical assistant with Lehighton PA nursing home patient The function of a medical assistant can be varied as well as challenging. Primarily their job is to make sure that the Lehighton PA clinics, hospitals and other healthcare centers where they work run successfully. Based on the type or size of facility, they can be more of a clinical assistant, an administrative assistant, or in smaller facilities both. They are responsible for providing direct support to the physicians, nurses and other medical professionals but can also be found working at the front desk or in an office. A few of the potential duties of a medical assistant include:

Filling out insurance forms and submitting claims
Scheduling and verifying appointments
Weighing and taking patients vital signs
Collecting blood and other fluid and tissue samples
Preparing rooms and instruments for physicians
Providing general support during examinations and procedures

While medical assistants may perform almost any duty they are authorized to under Pennsylvania law, some opt to specialize in a specific area and attain certification. Two of the choices available are for the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) and the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) offered by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA).

Medical Assistant Training Courses

Compared to many other healthcare practitioners, medical assistants are not required to become licensed, certified, or to obtain a college degree. However, many Lehighton PA health care employers would rather hire graduates of an accredited medical assistant training program (more on accreditation later ) that have earned certification. There are basically two choices provided for a formal education. The first and fastest route to becoming a medical assistant is to attain a diploma or a certificate. These programs usually take about a year to finish, some as little as six to nine months. They are developed to teach the fundamentals of medical assisting and ready graduates for entry level positions. The second option is to obtain an Associate Degree, which are normally 2 year programs provided at junior and community colleges in addition to technical and vocational schools. They are more extensive in design than the diploma or certificate programs, and include liberal arts courses in addition to the medical assistant courses. They usually have a practical element requiring an internship with a local medical facility. Associate Degrees are commonly a pre-requisite for and credits can be applied to a 4 year Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Assistant Studies or a related field.

Medical Assistant Online Colleges

woman attending medical assistant school online in Lehighton PA There are many accredited medical assistant programs available online also. They are an excellent option for individuals who might not have the time to attend classes on campus but could work them in if accessible at home. This is an especially good alternative for students who continue to work full-time while attaining their degree or certificate. As an added benefit, a number of online schools have cheaper tuitions than the more traditional on-campus options. Supplemental expenses including those for commuting, textbooks and school supplies can be minimized also. But remember that all requirements for clinical training or internships must still be fulfilled, but they can typically be carried out in Lehighton PA area health care facilities. If you can learn without the formal structure of going to supervised classes on-campus, then this approach to receiving your education might be the right choice for you. Between the online courses and the clinical training, everything necessary to attain proficiency to work as a medical assistant is furnished.

Certification Options for Medical Assistants

As previously mentioned, certification is not a legal mandate, but is an excellent choice for graduates who want to advance their careers. It will not only help in securing employment after graduation, but it may also enhance preliminary salary negotiations. Some potential Lehighton PA medical employers simply will not employ a medical assistant that has not obtained accredited formal training or certification. Among the most popular and perhaps the most highly regarded certification is the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) offered by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). To qualify to apply for the CMA examination, an applicant must have graduated or will be graduating within 30 days from an accredited medical assistant program. Alternative certifications are offered also, for instance the CCMA and the CMAA that we previously mentioned which are offered by the NHA.

Topics to Ask Medical Assistant Programs

Questions to ask Lehighton PA medical assistant programs Prior to examining your medical assistant school options, you have to choose which kind of credential you want to attain, and if you want to attend classes on campus or online at home. As soon as those selections have been made, you can begin the procedure of comparing medical assistant schools. As we discussed at the beginning of this article, some potential students limit their searches to the schools that are nearest to Lehighton PA with the lowest tuition. Although location and cost are significant qualifications, they are by no means the only ones. There are several additional considerations that you need to look at when assessing schools. To assist you with that process, following are a few questions that you need to ask about all of the schools you are thinking about before making your ultimate selection.

Is the Medical Assistant Program Accredited? There are a number of great reasons to confirm that the college you choose is accredited. To start with, accreditation helps ensure that the training you receive will be both extensive and of the highest quality. Second, if you intend to become certified, you need to enroll in an accredited program. Two of the approved organizations for accreditation are the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) and the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). If your program is not accredited by one of these agencies, you will not be eligible to take the CMA examination. Also, if you intend on applying for a student loan or financial aid, they are frequently not offered for non-accredited programs. And last, as mentioned previously, many potential Lehighton PA employers will not employ a medical assistant who has not graduated from an accredited college.

What is the Program’s Passage Percentage? Most of the accredited medical assistant schools develop their programs to prep students to pass one or more certification examinations. To begin with, you need to determine which of the certifications the programs you are reviewing are preparing their students for. If you are interested in taking the CMA for example, then obviously you will want to select a program targeting that certification. Second, ask what the program’s passage rate is for the certification and compare it to the national average. This is just one of the means to help assess the quality of a college’s program. Of course schools with low rates are ones that you will prefer to avoid.

Which Programs are Offered? As we previously covered, there are generally two routes to obtaining medical assistant training. You can choose a certificate or diploma program and obtain entry level training in the fastest amount of time, starting at just 6 months, although the average is closer to 1 year. Or you can decide to obtain an Associate Degree and receive a more comprehensive education that will take approximately two years to accomplish in a junior college or trade school. Whatever program you decide to pursue, confirm that the schools you are looking at provide the kind of program you have an interest in.

Are Internships Offered? Many medical assistant schools sponsor internship programs with Lehighton PA area health care providers. They are an excellent method to receive hands-on practical training and experience. They may also assist students establish relationships within the Lehighton medical community. And as an additional perk, they are an advantage on resumes and for job interviews too.

Is Job Placement Support Offered? Landing that initial job may be a difficult task for graduating medical assistant students unless they obtain some help from a job placement program. Confirm that the schools you are evaluating provide job placement assistance in the Lehighton PA area and find out what their placement rate is. If a college has a higher job placement rate for its graduates, it indicates that it has an excellent reputation within the healthcare community. It also suggests that it has a large network of contacts to help place students in positions.

How Big are the Classes? Class size may be an indication of how much individual attention you will receive during your training. Small classes and classes with a higher teacher to student ratio are more likely to provide greater access to teachers and face to face interaction. If possible, try to monitor a couple of classes before selecting a college to see what the teaching environment is like and how much attention the students get.

Is Class Scheduling Accommodating? If you plan on attending a medical assistant school while you continue to work full-time, it’s imperative that the program you choose provides classes that accommodate your schedule. If you have to go to classes in the evenings or on weekends near Lehighton PA, confirm that those times are available. You might be able to fit your classes in more easily with an online school, but you will still have to schedule any clinical training or internships that may be required. Additionally, ask what the protocol is for making up classes that you might have to miss because of work, illness or family issues.

Enrolling in a Medical Assistant Program near Lehighton Pennsylvania?

If you are considering attending a medical assistant school in the Lehighton PA area, following is some background information that may be both interesting and useful regarding your future campus location.

Lehighton, Pennsylvania

Lehighton (/li'hɑitən/) is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States, 77 miles (124 km) north of Philadelphia, and 54 miles (87 km) south of Scranton. In the past, it developed early industries because of water power from the Lehigh River. With the location of a repair facility here and its regional operations, the Lehigh Valley Railroad became for years a major employer of thousands of people from the area. Post-World War II railroad and industry restructuring led to job and population losses.

At the time of the first European's encounters with historic American Indian tribes, this area was part of the shared hunting territory of the Iroquoian Susquehannock and the Algonquian Lenape (also called the Delaware, after their language and territory along the Delaware River) peoples, who were often at odds.[5] Relatives of the peoples of New England and along the St. Lawrence valley of Canada, the Delaware bands occupied much of the coastal mid-Atlantic area in Delaware, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and lower eastern New York, including Long Island.[5] The Susquehannock confederacy's homelands were mainly along the Susquehanna River, from the Mohawk Valley in lower New York southerly to the Chesapeake and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, but may have ranged into the 'empty lands'[6] of West Virginia, Eastern Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania.[5] The Dutch and Swedes first settled the Delaware Valley, and found the area north of the Lehigh Gap to be lightly occupied, probably by transients, but traveled regularly by the Susquehannock. This tribe traveled quite a bit according to the American Heritage Book of Indians,[5] including being described in lofty terms by John Smith when a band visited the new Jamestown, Virginia colony.[5] In the decades of the Beaver Wars in the mid-1600s, the Susquehannocks conquered and made the Lenape a tributary tribe — and also nearly inflicted an overwhelming defeat on the powerful Iroquois Confederacy,.[5] Shortly thereafter, the Susquehannocks suffered a reversal, falling first to epidemic disease that raged for three years which killed off potentially 90% of their population,[5] and a series of battles on most of their frontiers as various enemies took advantage.[5] This vacated the southeastern and central Pennsylvania regions for the Delaware peoples. However, all tribes were thereafter displaced westwards by continued colonial growth. Delaware dominance at the time of European colonization is why William Penn's settlers adopted Lenape Lenki (Delaware) names for landscape features, and less than a handful of Susquehannock names.

Lehighton was built on the site of the German Moravian Brethren's mission station "Gnadenhütten" (cabins of grace) founded in 1746. It was established as a mission to the Lenape by Moravians from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, lower on the Lehigh River.[7] The German name was transcribed as "Canatanheat" by missionary John Brainerd.[8]

Enroll in the Right Medical Assistant Training Lehighton PA

Lehighton PA medical assistant student It’s essential to start your new career on the right foot by selecting a medical assistant school that will furnish the right training. Whether you’re goal is to launch a career in medical care starting out as a medical assistant or to practice medical assistance as your lifetime career, you must obtain the right info on available programs before making your selection. There are such a large number of colleges offering training these days that you can make a selection based on your personal preferences and individual circumstances. And as we have covered in this article, confirm that the program you select is accredited by an acknowledged organization, for example the CAAHEP. This is especially critical if you intend on taking the CMA certification exam. You came to this site initially because you had an interest in Quick Medical Assistant Programs. But regardless of the kind of credential that you intend to earn or if you have decided to attend either an online or on-campus school, make sure to ask the questions we have provided in order to compare programs and make an informed decision. And by picking the right program you can subsequently start a rewarding career as a medical assistant in Lehighton PA.